The standard way of preventing relay is to set up the mail server to accept connections from internal addresses only - ie the DHCP subnet. The issue at hand has nothing to do with relay (although a lack of this setting is a surefire way of getting your server blacklisted!). I doubt their firewalls are working at the application level, and it's a pain in the proverbial setting up an "allow" rulebase for the type of traffic you'll see from home users running countless different applications. I'm a long time out of this game but I used to set up and manage Raptor & Checkpoint firewalls and MailSweeper for corporate clients. I know this stuff pretty well which is why it's so frustrating. Knowing my stuff means Orange can't keep fobbing me off and I won't let them. Hopefully others might find this thread useful in future.

Hi there, I'm a former IT professional so this is all standard practise for me. 2525 isn't open on my server but there are other avenues I can try (once we get online at our new house, my support people are superb). I'm making a fuss because the average home user won't have my expertise and will experience a brick wall at Orange. I'm hoping to help them with a solution...

Pop is for collection, not sending.

Orange limited SMTP to their own server(s). This is how one must -send- email. Open SMTP access means anyone can install a free local SMTP server and send tons of email anywhere pretending to be from anyone (ie spam). So actually it's a fairly sensible policy... Until, that is, Orange's server gets blacklisted! My request is that I be allowed SMTP (which stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol by the way) access to the server hosting the domain I can easily prove I own (vie a WHOIS lookup). This will allow me to continue using email reliably. For this I must be able to communicate privately, but can't get into "proper" facebook from my Blackberry to which I'm limited for at least a week. At least emails sent via the BB aren't blacklisted! My email exchange with Orange support got somewhere inasmuch as they admitted the problem, but are now just patting me on the head and telling me to run along while their engineers deal with the problem. Unfortunately being blacklisted is something over which they have no direct control!

Hi OH, thanks very much for the offer. This is a very real issue for orange, support have admitted problems with Orange's smtp server being blacklisted - as of a couple of nights ago, even hotmail were refusing mail! I only ask that I be allowed smtp to the mail server that -IS- the mx record for the domain I can easily prove I own, it's not a spam risk to Orange. I'm replying here because this has coincided with my moving house! Currently I'm without internet and restricted to my BlackBerry, couldn't find a link to Facebook in your profile.

I'm already onto the option of an alternate port, waiting on a response from my hosts (Gridstar, about whom I have nothing but good things to say!). My problem appears to be blacklist related - the behaviour is consistent even though this is an old link http://www.wirelessforums.org/uk-telecom-mobile/orange-using-non-orange-smtp-server-12386.html

Despise BT thanks to dreadful customer service and extortionate prices. Do Virgin suport regular broadband, or just cable?

Okay, so I ring up a potential new broadband provider and ask "do you block SMTP from home users?".... chances of a straight answer?

Okay this one is a little technical, but somewhere along the line Orange is potentially causing my business damage through the use of a restrictive practice. My issue is I am on Orange broadband and they insist you use their outgoing SMTP server (for the teccie types, TCP port 25 is blocked from home users to anything but their own server)/ I own my own internet domain on which I rely for my business. I recently discovered through a customer in Belgium that some emails are disappearing. I send them, they never arrive. my other half has also discovered she can't send anything to her sister, I should explain at this point that I used to work for a corporate solutions provider setting up firewalls, mail servers including anti-spam and so on. I am well aware of the issues of spam filtering and this isn't an example of that. It's almost certainly problems with receiving servers being set up to do a reverse lookup on the delivered email's MX record and compare it to the connectign server. The ISP which holds my domain also offers an SMTP service and I used it for years with no problems. While the issue of emails not arriving is likely not a problem at Orange, but it's almost certainly related to orange not hosting my domain. I'm hitting a brick will with Orange trying to get this resolved, I just keep getting "it's our policy" excuse when I'm telling them what the problem is and how to resolve this (add a single line in the firewall rulebase to allow SMTP access from my pool to the mail server which hosts my MX record). It's UK based and a reputable company Tech support don't even know what "TCP Post 25" even means so I really need to get this up the chain to someone who can sort this out... does anyone have any suggestions? I see this as a potentially restrictive practice: one way to solve it would be for Orange to host my domain... (like hell!)

point taken. Option #1 envoked..

We occasionally receive post for a previous tenant, and a month or so ago this included two letters which I "returned to sender, not known at this address for 2+ years" unopened. I googled the return address postcode and it came back as Fredrickson Intl. Ho hum, I thought, but not my fight. Today a letter came addressed to said previous tenant but this time with no return address. I opened it to find a threat-o-gram from Bryan Carter. My options are: 1) File it in the bin 2) Send them a stinking note suggesting I've already informed them the person they want doesn't live here and in future they should include a return address on their envelopes so that I can return their mail without having to read someone else's private business. What do you guys reckon? I know #1 is easiest, however I would like to take the opportunity to waste as much of their time as possible...

They can not take any baliff action without a court order, and they won't get one without a CCA. They can technically make a record on your credit file and sell the debt on. I say technically because this was the ruling in the McGuffick case. HOWEVER I've taken the angle that the McGuffick case revolved around an unenforceable CCA, where many of these leeches don't have a CCA at all, which is the situation I found myself in with written acknowledgement of this fact. I wrote to my lot and served them notice under the data protection act to stop processing my data in any form (including making marks on my credit file). This approach worked and (to date) nothing has come of it. BUT I know when the debt is due to drop off the bottom of my credit file, 6 years after the original default, so I'm happy to sit tight until then.

I've seen other communications on the forum where people write stating very clearly "I acknowledge no debt to your company" at the top. I'd love to see what they say if you demand they explain what a statutory demand for bankruptcy is. You could even threaten them with charges if they fail to respond properly and you have to write to them again (this has worked for others on here).

I have not been offered a refund. I just said that I don't want one.

Yes they do like to quote McGuffick et al. Seems you're in the same positon I was. I had £6800 written off on the strength of this letter, you might like to borrow it (with suitable alteratons obviously!) http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?272108-Fenton-Cooper-admits-to-not-having-my-CCA&p=3086861&viewfull=1#post3086861

"Collecting doorsteps"

Thanks for the input - can you point me to where the 6 year rule is stated? It's a bit of a grey area really because no, what I was sent is not fit for purpose... but on the grounds that it isn't what I ordered, not because it's faulty which is I suspect the spirit of the law.

Hi everyone, I'll try and keep this simple, I hope I succeed! I ordered an item from a specialist supplier who manufacture their own merchandise (CNC machined). The item I ordered come in two flavours, Left and Right. I ordered a Right unit, received a Left unit. The snag is that I didn't need it for 6 months so the box sat on the shelf unchecked. It was only after this time that I realised they'd sent me the wrong one. In the meantime they've stopped sellign this part, and claim they no longer have the pattern on file (load of nonsense I suspect). I've returned the Left unit. This item is part of a system this supplier designed for me that's worth a lot more than the item in question. I do not want a refund because it will render the rest of the system useless. What I want is for them to tool up and make the correct part that they should have sent in the first place, or pay the cost of having someone else make it (I have the skills required to CAD model it myself). My question is what are my rights, given the time delay between supply of the wrong part and my discovery of the error? Do I have a leg to stand on?

Oh yes I know, but what's the point of repeatedly ringing up the same number to ask if they have sky, ignoring the answer if it's "no" and just ringing again? I want to find out who's responsible and put a rocket up their erris...

I did wonder where those automated calls were leading if I said "yes", though where they got the name from is beyond me

Well I'm now receiving calls asking for someone I've never heard of from "TV Guard". The plot thickens...

I think your defence is a strong one given you have meticulously stored all the relevant communications - well done! I'm no expert at all but maybe you'd do well to formalise all this in a single letter (no need to include proof at this stage, but state clearly that you have it) and submit it to Vanquis and Cc the court. They have not complied with the laws put in place to protect people like you from situations like this.... I'm sure better advice will be forthcoming but I would hope to see common sense prevail ultimately, and you can probably go after costs/compensation, but again, I'm no expert! If you think about it, this has probably happened automatically without anyone at Vanquis being in full posession of the facts, so they're digging themselves a lovely hole.

Probably but getting through to someone who can confirm and god forbid fix the problem might be tough...

No excuses needed, Rachael. Most people on here have been through any number of similar scenarios, myself included. Take a deep breath, calm down, THEY CAN'T TOUCH YOU. You need to send them a stat barred letter. If they ring you, refuse to go through "security" - keep repeating "I will communicate with you in writing only" like a parrot if you can think of nothing else. These guys are trained to get under your skin - THEY are the ****, not you. This thread may help you feel better: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?131409-Cheekiness-towards-a-DCA/page1

'ere tis http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?20758-Creditors-and-DCAs-Letter-Templates-amp-Budget-Planner&p=162366&viewfull=1#post162366